Leader of the Broken Hearts
by River Nightrunner
Summary: Six missed dinner. That wasn't unusual but Boone's instincts told him something wasn't right. He'd always had good instincts. This is Lemony goodness inspired by sleepless nights and procrastination.


**The Leader of the Broken Hearts**

Craig Boone looked at the empty chair The Courier usually occupied during meals. She'd been quiet at breakfast which wasn't terribly unusual but Boone had noticed it all the same. They'd gotten back to the Lucky 38 the night before and everyone was worn out. Not even Veronica was overly chatty though she'd hummed as she tinkered on a small radio over the course of the day.

He'd seen Six through the open door of her bedroom earlier in the afternoon. She'd had her weapons out on her desk, cleaning them. She hadn't show up for lunch which again wasn't that unusual for her. Six didn't eat if she wasn't hungry and living most of her life on the road had gotten her used to not stopping for a midday meal.

Craig wasn't sure what had made him think that not everything was as it should be.

It had been something in her eyes, Boone decided. Like she was seeing something far away. It was a look he recognized. One he'd worn often himself after the death of his wife. He didn't know a lot about Six's past. Hell, neither did she after the bullet Benny put in her skull. But she was remembering more every day.

It had started a couple months ago, she would get little flashes of her past. Most of it she chose to keep to herself, it irritated Cass and Veronica but Boone understood wanting to keep the past buried. So did Raul.

Arcade hadn't shown a sign either way and Lily just kept offering Six cookies whenever she looked sad. Six always smiled at the grandmother nightkin and accepted the gift…rarely was it actually something edible but Six said it was the thought that counted.

Boone picked up his half eaten plate silently.

"You going to look for Six?" Cass asked, still digging into the Brahmin steak and potatoes Raul had made.

"Probably,"

"She's been acting weird," Veronica said with worried eyes. "Do you think it's something one of us did?"

"The boss just needs a little time. We all have demons on our backs that get heavy." Raul rumbled from the far end of the table. At his feet Rex groaned and Raul dropped him a bit of meat.

"It may help to have someone talk to her. Someone who carries a similar weight." Arcade announced, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "She's remembering her life and she's not liking what she's seeing."

"Does anyone know what she's remembering?" Veronica asked a little too hopefully for Boone to approve of. "Cause if we don't know how can we help?"

"You can't," Boone growled, commanding attention as he threw down his napkin. "None of us can, not until she wants it. I'm going for a walk,"

Boone dropped his plate in the sink, stalking out. He didn't know why he was so angry. They'd been concerned, they'd wanted to help but he'd felt his hackles go up when they'd started talking about it. He'd always felt protective of Six and he was overtired like the rest of them. That had to be it Boone decided as he stepped into the elevator.

"What's up with him?" Veronica asked, "We just want to help."

"Similar demons," Arcade said softly.

Cass looked at the good doctor. "How do you know? Boone is as tight lipped as Six. As far as I know she's the only one he's ever shared anything with."

"I'm your doctor," Arcade said simply. "It's my job to know things about you."

"That's vague," Raul drawled, sipping the chilled Sunset Saprillia in his right hand.

"Yes," Arcade agreed going back to his meal.

* * *

Six was in the dark cocktail lounge sitting with her legs folded up under her in one of the big window seats. Boone watched her from a shadowed corner, trying to decide if he should intrude or not. She clearly wanted to be alone, she'd turned to lights off.

He could see the glowing cherry of a cigarette and the lights of the Strip reflected in a glass of clear liquid. Vodka, Six's beverage of choice. Six was staring out the window, she looked a hell of a lot like he had when she'd found him.

He had just made up his mind to leave her alone when he heard it. A soft sniffle. The sniper froze, Six was crying. Everything in him screamed to flee, he'd never been good with crying women but he couldn't leave her to her misery. _Not her_.

Boone grabbed a full bottle from the bar next to him and cleared his throat. Six jumped, hastily wiping her eyes.

Boone set down the bottle on the windowsill and settled his frame onto the opposite side of the window seat. He took his time lighting a cigarette and pouring himself a glass. After his was full he topped off Six's glass.

Boone only then looked up at her. Her face and eyes were puffy like she'd been crying for awhile. Six looked him in the eye for a second and then turned her gaze back to the street to try and hide what he'd already seen.

"Peaceful down here," he finally commented softly.

Six nodded. "Yeah,"

"What did you remember?"

Six glanced at him, considering lying to the man but in the end she sighed. She didn't lie to Boone. "Things I wish I could forget again."

Boone nodded and pushed her drink towards her. "Yeah," he told her because he understood exactly what she meant. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No. Do you know what today is?" she asked and he shook his head.

"You don't have to tell me."

"I know," she whispered in a raw voice. "Today is the anniversary for the day my husband died."

Boone's mouth fell open and his cigarette hissed as it tumbled into his drink. "You had a husband?"

Six nodded. "I've been having dreams…dreams of a paradise. Turns out they were bits of memory. Yesterday I saw the date and something in my head…it just snapped. Memories of him hit me and I wasn't ready Boone," Her voice cracked on his name.

Boone remembered that she'd slipped off on her own in Camp McCarren yesterday. They hadn't seen her until dusk when she'd said it was time to head out. He assumed she'd been finishing up the handful of thing she'd taken on for the NCR. Giving final reports and what not. He should have been able to see it on her face then and kicked himself for missing it.

Turns out she'd found a part of her past that was so close to his it was jarring.

"Tell me," he coaxed when she just kept staring lost and lonely out the window.

Six looked at him with new tears running down her cheeks. She started to tell him no. She was going to ask him to leave her in her depression but the shadow of pain on his face changed her mind. Boone was possibly the only person in the wasteland she trusted with her past. Like herself he'd done terrible things in the name of a greater good. And he'd lost the most important thing in his life to his enemies.

"I met Lucifer a lifetime ago. He was half dead and being hunted by super mutants. I killed them…fixed him up and went on my merry way. Our paths kept crossing though and finally I trusted him with a secret…two secrets. One I don't remember. The other I might share with you someday soon.

We started traveling together and Lou…he kept me a person. He kept me sane through the horrors of the wasteland, the death of my farther and the personal war I waged on the Enclave. He used to call it a bad case of blood lust. It was kind of like what Lily suffers.

I killed a lot of people during the war. I brought down whole military bases. But Boone those weren't all leaders and generals that I killed. When I blew those bases… that's where they lived, I killed families. Men raised to believe what they were doing was right. I hear their screams at night. They weren't my enemies…they were just following orders."

Six wrapped her arms around herself, rocking ever so slightly. Boone didn't know what to say. He couldn't come up with anything that might make her feel better. He knew what she was talking about, and of course the NCR had gotten reports that the Enclave had been all but wiped out but those reports had said it was the brotherhood of Steel.

He had heard some rumors that a lone assassin had dealt most of the major blows but they'd been only rumors and he hadn't put much stock in them. Now he didn't doubt them. He'd seen Six fight many times over and believed that she was an army of one.

Six took a shaky sip of vodka, letting the burn settle her nerves.

"After the Enclave fell I couldn't stay. I was looked at like a hero, was worshiped even but I couldn't accept their praise and live out a peaceful life there. Too much blood on the dirt I guess. One night Lou suggested we travel north.

We walked for weeks, got lost in a terrible storm one night and took shelter in the first standing structure we found. When the fog lifted the next morning…Boone it was awe inspiring. We had found a paradise on earth. No radiation. It was a valley of green trees. The animals not automatically trying to kill us all the time we crossed paths with them. Song birds in the air and fish in the water.

There was a village on the far side of the lake. They welcomed us" she told him, then her voice lost the awe and the pain came back. "Then we heard the stories about demons in the woods. They'd been so welcoming and Lou and I had had plenty of experience hunting all kinds of things so we went looking.

I was carless, Cocky. The demons were enclave scouts sent to look at new areas to infest. Lou took a plasma blast meant for me. We were supposed to be married the next day…well we got him back to the village but there was no radiation to soak him in. The damages was to extensive for me to fix with what was on hand."

"No Radiation?" Boone asked.

"He was a ghoul. Lou and I exchanged our marriage vows and he kissed me and… and he died. I lost my mind after that. Challenged what was left of the Enclave. I didn't care if I lived or died." She told him he a horribly familiar bitterness in her voice. Six took another gulp from her glass ans took a deep breath before continuing. "No, that's not true. I _wanted_ _to die_ but I wanted to die fighting. I don't know how I survived long enough to get shot in the head. Five years ago today Lou died for me. I don't think that's a wound that will ever heal."

Ginger dropped her cigarette butt into the ashtray. "I _want_ to wish I'd never remembered anything but I don't. Does that make sense?"

Boone nodded solemnly. "Yes. It does make sense."

"I don't think I can live a peaceful life Boone. After all the blood I've spilled in the name of war… I don't know if I can do anything else. I don't know if I can be anything more than a killer. I'm a Monster."

Boone saw a fresh wave of tears streaming silently down her cheeks and set his glass on the sill. The sniper reached out and pulled her across the window seat, settling her in his arms like a child after a bad dream.

"I told you about Carla," Boone whispered into her hair while she clung to his thread bare shirt, weeping into his chest. "Let me tell you about Bitter Springs."

Boone told her everything he remembered about that horrible day. It was like washing out an old wound, it was almost liberating to confess his greatest sins to the woman listening quietly in his arms.

When he was done she squeezed the arm she was holding. "Do you think we'll ever heal up?"

Boone snorted. "Unlikely, we're both too broken. Hell we all are."

Six nodded, a small sad smile twisting the corner of her mouth. "A courier and a sniper with pasts both written in blood. A drunken caravan merchant who lost her legacy. A nightkin who only takes half her meds so she can hear the voices of her grandchildren. A ghoul who lost everything in the aftermath of the bombs. A doctor with dark secrets of his own. A girl who walked away from the Brotherhood instead of watching them die slowly. An eyebot who only just escaped the scrap heap and a dog who'll outlive all the masters he loves. We make quite the team."

Boone nodded against her hair. "We are all better off following you."

"You're all still broken. I can't fix you no matter how much I want to,"

"Nobody can fix us," Boone told her evenly. "But you patched us all up and that's something. Something we all needed. That's why we all consider you our leader."

Six snorted and she looked out over the lights of Vegas. "I'm the leader of the Broken Hearts,"

Boone nodded again. "You are, we couldn't ask for better. Your Lou…he'd be proud of what you've built here. New Vegas…it's better because of you. You're patching it up just like the rest of us."

Six looked up at him. "How do you always know just what to say?"

Boone thought about that for a couple heartbeats, and looked down into her big, sad eyes. Something in the air between them shifted and Boone shifted her in his lap, moving his hands gently over her shoulders.

Six was just about to pull away when Boone's fingers tightened and he leaned down, softly catching her lips. Six stiffened for a second but then she leaned into his kiss. His five O'clock shadow scraped her skin and Goosebumps rolled over her flesh.

Boone pulled back a few inches and looked out the window. "Sorry,"

Six's nerves hummed. She hadn't given herself a man in years. She'd had a few meaningless tumbles with strangers she'd met in saloons but that hadn't been emotional at all. She wanted that again, she wanted to give herself over to someone one hundred percent. There was only one person living she trusted enough to do that.

"…Don't be."

He looked back at her. "You've been drinking," he told her quietly.

"A little," she agreed.

"You're hurting. I can't… _I won't_ take advantage of you." He told her quietly.

Six nodded because she'd always known that. Boone was the closest thing to safe that there was in the wasteland. "What if I want you to?"

Boone stiffened and Six heard him suck in a short breath.

"I remember so much pain. I'm drownding in it. _Please_ … save me Boone."

Boone didn't hesitate, he kisses her again. He was carful, giving her a chance to change her mind but she didn't. One of his big hands found the hem of her tank top and he paused there, playing with it.

Instead of going right for her breast Boone kept his hand where it was, instead he moved his mouth, nibbling a tingling trail to her collarbone.

Six's breath sped up, never would she had guessed that Hard-ass, efficient Criag Boone would be a gentle lover. He was.

Six, following his slow pace, gently tugged at his shirt until it pulled free from his pants. He paused his assault on her skin long enough for her to get the fabric off of him.

She ran her hands over his strong chest and he moved, one strong arm lowering her down on the window seat. Boone picked his shirt up off the floor where she'd dropped it and balled it up, tucking it under her head like a pillow.

It was possibly the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. Boone kissed her lips softly for a few sweat minutes and his fingers found the hem of her shirt again. This time his finger slid softly under the fabric, gliding over her belly and up her ribcage.

In the heat of the midsummer wastes Six didn't bother with a bra, her small breasts didn't need the support. Her right breast fit perfectly in Boones palm and Six groaned softly as he cupped it.

Six slid one knee between his thighs and was please by the growl that rumbled in Boone's throat when she pressed against his manhood. Boone withdrew his hand from under her shirt and tugged it over her head.

He paused, his hazy eyes drifting slowly over her naked skin.

Six shifted slowly and Boone growled again, lowering his warm mouth to one tight nipple.

"Oh Boone," Six groaned, her fingers sliding into his short hair.

Six held his head, groaning while Boone suckled her. She had a solid ache between her thighs when he switched to her other perky orb.

Six ground her knee against him, she wanted more but at the same time she didn't want him to stop. For the first time in a long time Six was painless, both emotionally and physically painless.

Boone released her nipple and with a wicked glint in his eye he blew on it, sending a delightful chill rolling over her flesh that made her squeak.

Boone chuckled quietly and kissed the hollow between her breasts. Then between her ribs, he kissed her navel and than just above her pants buttons.

Six groaned his name as he unsnapped her and drew the zipper down. So slowly that she was sure he was torturing her to certain death. Boone took his time sliding her pants from her legs. It wasn't until the cool air in the room touched her that she realized her panties had gone with her pants.

Boone smoothly slipped his calloused hands up her thighs and pressed her legs apart. Six closed her eyes, her breath fleeing her lungs when Boone's lips closed over her swollen nub. He flicked his tongue over her favorite bundle of nerves and Six squeaked in delight. Boone smirked and flicked his tongue out twice more, she was sweet on his taste buds and he dipped lower, pressing his tongue into her center. Six twitched and tried to press her legs together but Boone held them firmly apart. The sniper alternated between her core and her nub for a few long maddening minutes. He licked and nipped until her thighs were quivering and she was gasping on the edge of release. Six growled in protest when his lips left her flesh. She'd been _so_ close.

He moved back up her body, kissing her along the way to the mouth. At some point the man had gotten his own pants off because suddenly he was there hard and heavy between her legs.

" _Carla_ ," he whispered against her skin and instantly he froze. Six did too but then something she didn't realize she'd been holding back broke in her and she wraped her arms around him.

" _Lucifer_ ," she whispered back into his ear, almost choking the name. " _I miss you_."

Boone groaned in relief and slid into her. " _I miss you_ ," he whispered back and began to move inside of the woman who'd saved his life in so many different ways.

Six clung to the man on top of her, he smelled like cigarettes, gunpowder, and wasteland dust. Lou used to smell like that. She closed her eyes tightly, felt calloused hands running over her body, heard his breath in her ear and tasted the saltiness of his skin. For a few glorious moments the world was simple, She was in Lucifer's arms and had no responsibilities.

The both of them held on for as long as they could. When neither could hold on any longer Six bit into Boones hard shoulder, nuclear fire flashing through her veins. Boone was only second behind her and he thrusted into her steadily until every muscle in his body felt leaded in the most wonderful way. He collapsed, panting on the wide cushion next to her, gathering her into his arms. Six curled against him, resting her head on his chest. She may have dozed off for just a few seconds because she sworn she heard a raspy voice in her ear.

" _Anna, miss you too smoothskin."_

"Hmm?" Six asked, lifting her head.

Boone's eyes found hers, "I didn't say anything,"

"oh, I thought…I thought I heard…never mind."

"Listen Six, about what I said… _during_ …I'm sorry." He whispered, looking over her young body. _Too young_. He was robbin the cradle and calling her the wrong name on top of that. So much for being a comfort to her.

She shook her head and kissed his cheek. "Boone…I know you think you hurt me but for just a few minutes I was back in Lou's arms and… _thank you for that_."

Boone searched her eyes for a lie but it wasn't there and his lips tipped up in a half smile. "It was a same for me" he admitted. "but I shouldn't let you talk like you'll never find another good man. You're only what? Twenty two? You shouldn't have a broken man twice your age-"

Six started to laugh, cutting him off. "Boone I'm well into my thirties. I keep telling you I'm older than I look. And I think we've established that I'm just as broken as you are. Look I've had my one and only. The part of me that can be a woman in love died with him. _I can't love you._ And I know you can't love me because that part of you belongs to Carla. That's why we can do this Craig. Because you and I are the same. I don't want your love Boone. I just want you by my side."

A weight lifted from Boone's shoulders and he held her tightly. "I will always be by your side, Six."

" _Anna_ ," she whispered so softly the he almost didn't hear her.

"What?"

"I remember now. One of those secrets I told Lou? Now I'm telling you. My name, _my real name_ , is Anna."

Boone nodded, honored for reasons he didn't understand that she would trust him with her name. "Anna, you can count on me to watch your six."

* * *

 **Anna and Boone, friends with benefits because sometimes a person just needs to feel close to another.**


End file.
